Orange Islands

Here we are! Time for some Art Submissions for Flarelm and Embirch! I know a few people have been waiting very patiently for this to happen so here it finally is. This will likely run for a few days while other aspects of the Prevo’s are finalised. You should have enough information to accurately depict Embirch and Flarelm in new official artwork. As designs exist for both of the prevo’s, this is obviously a little bit different to standard CaP Art submissions. We expect the same levels of quality however.

Just as a side note, and a slight change in billing since my Overview Thread, I will be running a Sprite Process. This will happen as soon as the Art Polls are over. I’d like a solid base design for spriters to work from.

Each submission consists of the main design and (optional) supporting material. Obviously, plagiarism is not allowed, and you should submit your own original artwork. Remember that the pre-evo art design should be based on the existing evolution, Pyroak. It should not be too difficult at all to get slated as long as your submission obeys the rules below.

For direct reference, this is the only image of Embirch and Flarelm (By Elagune)

EDIT: Quanyails also found this image that Elagune drew:

Artists can change the designs slightly, but please be discreet. We obviously have a fairly strong sense of direction with where to head with these designs.

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Here's all the rules for CAP art submissions. If you're a long-time CAP art submitter, you know what to do here. If you are new to the game, however, I recommend you give this a good read through; it's important information.

Main Design

The main design is intended to follow the same general posing and layout as the "Official Art" for existing in-game Pokemon. The main design is the definitive design for a given Pokemon and should be suitable for display in the CAP PokeDex section of the CAP Website and any other CAP propaganda where a picture of the Pokemon is needed. The comparison to 'Official Pokemon Art' is only applicable to the basic content of the main design; it does not imply any standards or guidelines regarding artistic style or rendering technique.

The following rules of content must be followed for the main design:

It must consist of a single Pokemon on a plain white background with no parts of the Pokemon cut off by the canvas.

No props, action effects, move effects, or additional objects can be rendered on or around the Pokemon. If a prop is part of the Pokemon's basic design (ie. Conkeldurr's pillars), then it is acceptable.

Any 2D digital or scanned traditional drawing may be used. It must be in full color. 3D media and photos are not allowed.

It must have a distinguishable outline on the entire subject in contrast to the background. No part of the design can be blurred into the background or blended into the background in any way.

The maximum allowed size is 640x640 and the minimum allowed size of 320x320.

It must be in a compressed digital format such as .png or .jpg.

The rules for main designs will be strictly enforced. Do not make comparisons to in-game Pokemon designs or to past CAP designs to determine if your design is in compliance with these rules. Some in-game Pokemon designs and past CAP designs do not conform with the current CAP art submission rules, and emulating those designs is not an acceptable excuse for breaking the strict interpretation of the current rules.

Supporting Material

While the rules for the main design are somewhat rigid, there are almost no rules when it comes to supporting material. Action scenes, movement studies, interaction with other Pokemon, animations, sculptures, and cartoon strips are all allowed. Virtually any supporting material you can think of is allowed, though keep it tasteful. Non-art supporting material is also allowed. This includes detailed descriptions of the art, background data, stories, etc. All supporting art and information must be related to the main design in some way. This rule is intended to prevent artists from posting unrelated art in an effort to gain more attention or promote other designs or artworks.

In Syclar's case, you are more than welcome to draw supporting material. However, understand that it is probably better to focus on your main submission, as that will be the one that truly matters in the long run, since that will be the only image hosted on site. You don't need to convince people of your design this time around, but rather, your artistic talent.

Final Submission Post

All artists must make a final submission post in order to be considered for the art poll. The post must be titled "Final Submission". The post should have the Main Design at the top, and supporting material (if applicable) below it. All supporting art must be included as links or as linked thumbnails no larger than 150x150. Do not include full images of supporting art in the final submission. Only make one (1) final submission post. Artists are welcome to work on multiple designs and get feedback from the community, but only one design can be submitted for final consideration. If you wish to alter any aspect of your final submission, then edit your post. Do not make a new one, even if you delete your original post. Any deleting and reposting will be treated as bumping and is subject to moderation.

General Posting Rules

Artists can post any work-in-progress (WIP) artwork in order to solicit feedback or to help develop ideas. WIP artwork does not need to conform to the standards of a Main Design. It can be in any medium or stage of completion, but it must be related to an original art by the poster.

Do not spam the thread with excessive amounts of artwork over a short period of time. Apparently, some artists think they will improve their chances in the poll if they overload the submission thread with their artwork. Doing so will result in your posts being moderated.

Do not post inconsequential "updates" to previously posted art. Only if you have made a significant change and have not posted art recently can you post an update in the thread.

No post can contain more than 800x800 pixels of included art, and no single picture can be larger than 640x640. Past those limits, artists should post links to the additional art or use linking thumbnails. Each thumbnail can be no larger than 150x150. Any number of thumbnails can be included in a post, even if it passes the limit. All art must be in a compressed digital format.

No bumping or begging, especially for feedback. If your art is any good, people will comment on it. If your art gets no feedback, then your art is not very good. Consider the silence to be your feedback.

Do not declare any artwork as "the winner" or say that anything "is clearly going to win". It's fine to post praise or support for an artwork, but don't make a statement indicating the results of a poll that has not been conducted. Such posts are insulting to all the other competing artists.

Do not ask when this thread will close. CAP threads do not follow a set timetable. If you want to know the overall sequence of events in a CAP then go to the CAP website and read the process guide.

Do not post questions asking for help in making art. This isn't a tutorial thread.

Art Polls

All art polls will contain the main design and, if applicable, a link below it titled "Supporting Material". This will link to the artists final submission post. If the final submission contains no significant supporting material, then no link will be included in the poll below the main design. Art submissions for the art poll will be selected in a manner to be determined by the topic leader. There is no process for overturning the topic leader's decision. If you are not comfortable with this stipulation, then do not make an art submission. Do not post any complaints here or in later threads.

CBMeadow, I definitely like the pose of your "old, dynamic version" better. Your new one looks like he's getting ready for a powernap. Everyone knows pokemon don't powernap! I would redo the old pose. Great job either way, though! (If you think I was mean, I'm sorry :(. It's just my honest opinion, but I don't mean to hurt your feelings.)

No such thing as hurting my feelings, don't worry! I prefer it too, it's just rather Sugimori-lacking. I think I will redo it at some point, but I'm burnt out on drawing this line for now. I should have Flarelm up tomorrow and a redo of Embirch later than that tomorrow.

The main problem with the original one is that it looks too adult. I think I might do something with an approximately equal amount of 'cool' and retaining some dynamic motion while still being planted on the ground. I think that's a good compromise between the extremes.

I agree that this is preferrable to your sitting pose, though I would advise you to actually opt for the big-headed version. Remember that as creatures age, head:body ratio changes. Same with eye:face ratios. This is why babies have huge heads and eyes and small bodies. If you stick with these things in mind, I think you'll have less issue with your designs looking "too adult".

CBMeadow, I really, really like the design of Flarelm; the pose is alluring and the choice of colors is very fitting.

For Embirch something in the right arm looks odd when compared to the left, the size is just not comparable, and the lack of elbows makes it look really weird, maybe some black lines to mark where they are would look cool. The feet are certainly bigger than the rest of the body, looks a little off of proportion. The eyes, on the other hand, are ADORABLE, it really looks like a LC 'mon for me. The shading is really nice and the shoulder looks amazing. Yes, I'm being really perfectionist but your work looks so nice I think it deserves to be just perfect.

paintseagull, #2 is the way to go, really. It looks both adorable and powerful, just like most of LC (except for Sunkern).

CBMeadow, your design is looking fine so far. The only complaint would be that the head looks really round, due to the really thick lines. I would try trimming them down a bit to give the head more shape. Overall, i love the colours. So far, so good.

Paintseagull, your sketching are looking good so far, so continue the work. :)

Paintseagull, your #2 is so adorable it hurts a little (I think it's the big shiny eye), but if using that pose for the submission I'd be sure that the right arm is shifted a little, or the whole poke turned a bit more towards us, so that the waist and skirt aren't as obscured by the cannon.

CBMeadow, that last one looks very nice, particularly the texture, but the general pose of it looks stiff and awkward. In particular, you have fallen to the tragic mistake of a symmetrical arms out at sides pose. Stand like that, it's not comfortable, and rarely do those sort of neutral, symmetrical poses look natural or interesting. Aside from that, the head, I feel, is turned too far downward, like he was in the middle of staring at his navel and glanced upwards. Another pose of embirch with that same very nice coloring and texture would be something fantastic.

I'm going to see if I can get a foot in this race some time over Thanksgiving, be a shame to only have two submissions for such friendly little treecannon guys.

editeditedit: tried bark-ing and added green tones while I was at it. Original here.

Gah... digital looks cleaner but at the same time it's so annoying and time consuming. Ah well, it looks better, so no point in not trying it!

EDIT: Everyone posted in the few hours it took to finish this. :P

@Good Luck!: Nah, I understand what you mean. Perfectionism and nitpicky critique are good things. The thought process behind the larger feet was the fact that Embirch is a weird semi plantigrade semi digitigrade Pokemon, though I do think they're a tad longer than that might suggest as well.

@Present: Will take into account, though see below.

@Kadew: Ahh, I know. D: Embirch has been giving me consistent trouble this whole time and I won't say Flarelm hasn't.
(Please do see if you can enter! They do need more love.)

I want to redo Embirch again. I learned more stuff from doing Flarelm than is visible in the current Embirch, and the lineart of it is really awkward. If I don't get around to it, I'm confident enough in it to go with it (trying to implement the critiques first) but I think I'll have time to take a fifty-second shot. Thanks for the commentary, guys! c: Assuming I do have time to redo I'll make sure to avoid the issues you caught.

EDIT again: made a little process-GIF for no reason. http://i.imgur.com/u0dZK.gif
GIFs' colour restriction means it isn't identical, but close enough.

I really, really like the eyes and the texture on both the tail and the body. The deepness in the cannon looks so real. It's amazing. And the pose looks defiant and proud. The only critique I have is that the armour looks too metallic in my taste; not quite like wood as in the main design. It looks stunning, though.

Now, these colors and shadings aren't necessarily what will be, just a splash of color to better illuminate how my lineart will hold up. Mostly, I'm looking for feedback on the composition, the pose and proportion and line and maybe on the colors I'm using (I feel they're a bit dull and unsaturated here). Also, the eye is bugging me, should I go with red as in the concept art, or white and black as in the sprite?

Also, @CBMeadow: your flarelm, I think you may have gone a bit overboard with the shading. It's really quite dark, and you're losing some of the integrity of the colors, particularly the red-orange of the thighs and body and whatever color the poor tail may have started out as. I like the more dynamic pose, though, particularly the cannon facing towards us. The neck angle is a bit uncomfortable looking, but not broken-neck-looking quite yet (skates that border, though).

Orange Islands

Right guys... I've been swamped in real life past few days, jut coming on to let you guys know I will be putting up Dex/Sprites this evening when I get home from work. Take those threads as a warning for this one as to when I'd like everything wrapped up! Will likely be about a 96 Hour warning by that point.

The art submitted so far is awesome :) I love how adorable everyone has made Embirch!

CBMeadow: I actually prefer your first Flarelm, the second seems very dark in comparison. I don;t know if thats just how you convert them... But it seems to have lost something.

Well, that's it. I know it's not the best feedback in the world, but I really want to see this thread going on. And come on guys, just one person submited a Flarelm art until now. Give it a bit more love.

Orange Islands

As CBMeadow is sorting out some last minute details and Kadew is fixing up a Flarelm, I am going to give you guys one last 24 Hour Period from this post. Come whatever time it is 24 hours from now that is it.

I will be talking to Birkal about the polls and stuff, and will sort those out accordingly :D